Polk company makes bid for Cypress Gardens

Friday

WINTER HAVEN - A Polk County company announced today that it is attempting to purchase Cypress Gardens Adventure Park and make it a locally owned company again.

WINTER HAVEN - A Polk County company announced today that it is attempting to purchase Cypress Gardens Adventure Park and make it a locally owned company again.

Land South Holdings LLC, a Mulberry-based investment real estate company, has submitted a bid to the federal Middle District Court in Macon, Ga., to buy the 71-year-old theme park in a bankruptcy auction.

Land South partners Brian G. Philpot and Robert F. Harper IV delivered a $16.8 million bid for the park today, according to a posting on the Web site of the Greater Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce.

Based on the number reported on the chamber Web site, Land South's bid is $600,000 lower than the $17.4 million minimum bid the bankruptcy auction requires for Cypress Gardens.

"Land South Holdings is pleased with the opportunity to pursue the purchase of Cypress Gardens Adventure Park," Philpot said in a statement released by his company. "If our bid is successful, we will keep Florida's original theme park a locally owned and operated tourism destination.

"For more than 70 years, Cypress Gardens has been an integral part of Polk County's landscape, providing millions of visitors with priceless memories and experiences," Philpot said. "The park provides more than 600 jobs to our community and is a driving force in our economic engine. Over the next two weeks, we will focus all our efforts into acquiring Cypress Gardens."

Philpot declined to comment further.

On Sept. 6, Adventure Parks Group LLC, announced that its Cypress Gardens park in Winter Haven and its Wild Adventures park in Valdosta, Ga., will be sold to the highest bidder in a private auction starting Sept. 25.

The sale will fulfill requirements resulting from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing by Adventure Parks Group a year ago.

According to Sara Sumner, the public relations coordinator for the parks, the parks can be sold separately or as a package.

The opening minimum bid for a package purchase of the parks is $53.25 million, Sumner said. An opening minimum bid for Cypress Gardens alone is $17.4 million and the opening minimum bid for Wild Adventures alone is $38.85 million.

Cypress Gardens principal owner Kent Buescher said the U.S. District Court in Valdosta, Ga., would approve the bidder by Sept. 27 and the deal would close in early October.

In September 2006, Adventure Parks Group filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors seeking payment for $25 million in debts. Much of the company's financial difficulties can be traced to 2004, when three hurricanes ravaged East Polk County and left a trail of destruction at Cypress Gardens.

The hurricanes struck just as Buescher's team was preparing Cypress Gardens for reopening under new management following the park's abrupt closure on April 13, 2003.

Officials from Adventure Parks Group had hoped to recover from its insurance carrier most of the money spent on hurricane cleanup and structural repairs, but the parks' ownership didn't prevail in a civil lawsuit seeking $17 million from its insurer.

Despite operating under bankruptcy protection, Cypress Gardens still managed to open the Starliner wooden rollercoaster this summer at a cost of $4 million.

Buescher said Cypress Gardens will continue to operate as it always has for its employees and guests. All passes and discounts will be honored, he said.

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